Chinese Bathhouse

One of the most famous historical aspects of Beijing are its hutong neighborhoods. Hutongs are basically a series of narrow alleys and backstreets. Within these alleys are courtyard homes, where as many as eight or even ten families lived and shared quarters.

For hundreds of years, every Beijinger lived in one of these types of homes. However, beginning in the 1950's and especially when China began its reform and opening in the 1980's, hutongs began to disappear as they gave way to modern roads and apartment complexes. One of the reasons that hutongs have disappeared so quickly since the reform and opening is because they lacked many of the the modern amenities that an emerging Chinese middle-class demanded. The hutongs had no running water, so no private showers or bathrooms, no heat and sometimes in poorer areas not even electricity.

And, because of the lack of running water, the bathhouse tradition took hold in China.

Often times when foreigners hear the term bathhouse they have a negative connotation about it but in China and much of Asia (particularly in South Korea and Japan) it is apart of their cultural tradition. In China, and in Beijing, people would frequent bathhouse once or twice a week to relax, clean and socialize because they lacked the running water at home. Now however, these bathhouses have become more like western spas in many ways, offering all types of massages (both good and naughty) that you would find in the west. However, Chinese spas still maintain a sense of tradition in that they are an important place to socialize because they offer more then just spa. They have swimming pools, arcade rooms, TV lounge rooms, fitness centers etc. Many also offer all-you-can-eat buffets.

It is for these reasons that many families will go together on the weekends, businessmen will take their clients to close business deals and regular people will just go to relax and spend time with friends.

Now that you have a little background here is my story.

My Chinese friend and I decided to try a Beijing bathhouse, since he had never been and obviously neither had I. We didn't have much clue on where to go, so we found this place online that had good reviews. It also wasn't very expensive. The downside, as we found out, is that it is in the middle of nowhere! Out close to the edge of Beijing-city proper. The place however, was just as nice as the pictures indicated. It was in this huge building, next nothing but the highway.

Inside, was like any spa in the US. It had a sort-of underground cave design to it, which was cool. One of the biggest differences between Chinese bathhouses and Western spas, is that in China everything is communal and there is no privacy. So, once you enter the proper dressing room you have to get naked and you stay like this until you leave the bathing areas.

(Unlike the West, China and much of Asia, I think, are not prudish when it comes to being naked. It is considered very normal. Also, the interactions between same-sexes is also very different in China. On the street, its not uncommon for men to have their arms around their friends and women to hold hands while they walk. In the bathhouse it is no different. For example, two Chinese men, about 30 came in and before you can use the hot springs you have to shower. Both of the men used the same shower head and soaped and washed each others backs. In the West, we would look at that as being gay, but in China its completely normal.)

Anyway, back to my story, after getting undressed and showered, there was the choice of a hot spring, different massages (not the seedy kind), a sauna and a large Olympic-size swimming pool to choose from. After relaxing for an hour or so and trying out all the place had to offer, my friend and I were starving and decided to hit up the buffet. We gorged on all kinds of Chinese foods and by the time we were done, we were kind of tired, so we went to the lounge and watched some TV. Later, I wanted to play my friend in ping-pong in hope of being able to tell people back home that I beat a Chinese person in ping-pong but alas, my friend was pretty good and I am not. By the time we were finished playing ping-pong it was already 10 PM and we had been there for close to four hours and if we were going to catch the subway home we had to leave. Oh yeah, all of this cost 108 RMB or about $16! Not bad.

To sum up my experience, I would definitely say it was something I would not have done back in the States and I really enjoyed it. I think a place like that would be perfect for a cold, winter Friday when all you want to do is relax from your week and be warm and still have some fun. So I will try and find a closer place to my apartment and hopefully one a little cheaper.

This blog post was a lot longer then I thought it was going to be and it is getting late and I have an exam tomorrow (this week is also mid-terms), so I will leave out probably the most interesting part (at least for me) of this whole experience.

A little teaser, it involves some stalking, Chinese politics, a nationalistic Chinese woman, a pro-democracy Chinese man and me!